Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why

In How Children Succeed, Paul Tough introduced us to research showing that personal qualities like perseverance, self-control, and conscientiousness play a critical role in children's success. Now, in Helping Children Succeed, Tough takes on a new set of pressing questions: What does growing up in poverty do to children's mental and physical development? How does adversity at home affect their success in the classroom, from preschool to high school?

The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way

How do other countries create "smarter" kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they've never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy.What is it like to be a child in the world's new education superpowers? In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embed­ded in these countries for one year.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

In this must-listen book for anyone striving to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows parents, educators, students, and businesspeople - both seasoned and new - that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a focused persistence called "grit". Why do some people succeed and others fail? Sharing new insights from her landmark research on grit, MacArthur "genius" Angela Duckworth explains why talent is hardly a guarantor of success.

Ken Robinson is one of the world's most influential voices in education, and his 2006 TED Talk on the subject is the most viewed in the organization's history. Now, the internationally recognized leader on creativity and human potential focuses on one of the most critical issues of our time: how to transform the nation's troubled educational system.

Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom

Kids are naturally curious, but when it comes to school it seems like their minds are turned off. Why is it that they can remember the smallest details from their favorite television programs, yet miss the most obvious questions on their history test? Cognitive scientist Dan Willingham has focused his acclaimed research on the biological and cognitive basis of learning and has a deep understanding of the daily challenges faced by classroom teachers.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Mindset is one of those rare audio books that can help you make positive changes in your life and at the same time see the world in a new way. A leading expert in motivation and personality psychology, Carol Dweck has discovered in more than 20 years of research that our mindset is not a minor personality quirk: it creates our whole mental world. It explains how we become optimistic or pessimistic. It shapes our goals, our attitude toward work, and ultimately predicts whether or not we will fulfull our potential.

The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed

In the tradition of Paul Tough's How Children Succeed and Wendy Mogel's The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, this groundbreaking manifesto focuses on the critical school years when parents must learn to allow their children to experience the disappointment and frustration that occur from life's inevitable problems so that they can grow up to be successful, resilient, and self-reliant adults.

Your toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. Your preschooler refuses to get dressed. Your fifth-grader sulks on the bench instead of playing on the field. Do children conspire to make their parents’ lives endlessly challenging? No - it’s just their developing brain calling the shots! In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the best-selling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures.

What would it take?That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children, not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America.

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

Internationally acclaimed experts on communication between parents and children, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish “are doing for parenting today what Dr. Spock did for our generation” (Parent Magazine). Now, this best-selling classic includes fresh insights and suggestions as well as the author’s time-tested methods to solve common problems and build foundations for lasting relationships.

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

To most of us, learning something 'the hard way' implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head and will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

Most Likely to Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for the New Innovation Era

From two leading experts in education and entrepreneurship, an urgent call for the radical reimagining of American education so that we better equip students for the realities of the 21st-century economy.

The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids

In recent years, numerous studies have shown that bright, charming, seemingly confident and socially skilled teenagers from affluent, loving families are experiencing epidemic rates of depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders - rates higher than in any other socioeconomic group of American adolescents. Materialism, pressure to achieve, perfectionism, and disconnection are combining to create a perfect storm that is devastating children of privilege and their parents alike.

Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn--and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less

Reassuring to parents and educators, Einstein Never Used Flash Cards shows why - and how - to step away from the cult of achievement and toward a more nurturing home life full of imaginative play and love of learning. Here's the message that stressed-out parents are craving to hear: It's okay to play! In fact, it's more than just okay - it's better than drilling academics. After decades of research, scientists and child development experts have come to a clear conclusion: Play is the best way for children to learn.

Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs

There are hundreds of books that give parents advice on everything from weaning to toilet training, from discipline to nutrition. But in spite of this overwhelming amount of information, there is very little research-based advice for parents on how to raise their children to be well rounded and achieve their full potential, helping them learn to take on life's challenges, communicate well with others, and remain committed to learning.

How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success

In How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims draws on research; on conversations with admissions officers, educators, and employers; and on her own insights as a mother and as a student dean to highlight the ways in which overparenting harms children, their stressed-out parents, and society at large.

How to Be the Parent You Always Wanted to Be

Loaded with real-life stories and answers to commonly asked questions, this new multimedia edition demonstrates simple, proven skills that can make relationships with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.

No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind

Highlighting the fascinating link between a child’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehavior, No-Drama Disciplineprovides an effective, compassionate road map for dealing with tantrums, tensions, and tears - without causing a scene. Defining the true meaning of the “d” word (to instruct, not to shout or reprimand), the authors explain how to reach your child, redirect emotions, and turn a meltdown into an opportunity for growth.

Publisher's Summary

The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: Success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues for a very different understanding of what makes a successful child. Drawing on groundbreaking research in neuroscience, economics, and psychology, Tough shows that the qualities that matter most have less to do with IQ and more to do with character: skills like grit, curiosity, conscientiousness, and optimism.

How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of scientists and educators who are radically changing our understanding of how children develop character, how they learn to think, and how they overcome adversity. It tells the personal stories of young people struggling to stay on the right side of the line between success and failure. And it argues for a new way of thinking about how best to steer an individual child - or a whole generation of children - toward a successful future. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage listeners; it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am not sure it was worth my time, to be honest. While there were some interesting tidbits and I generally agree with the book's premise, I think there are better books on a similar topic. I enjoyed Brain Rules for Baby more. This book is written by a journalist rather than a scientist or doctor and it shows. He clearly put a lot of time and effort in the book and it is loaded with interesting anecdotes, but I would have rather heard a book based in more science and data.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

More studies and research and less personal stories.

What does Dan John Miller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I thought the narration was certainly adequate.

Did How Children Succeed inspire you to do anything?

I think it reminded me that I should emphasize perseverance more to my children as they grow up.

This book raises some key points about what attributes in children predict success in adult life, and they are not what we tend to expect (name, not IQ). But it is also a somewhat scattered and unfocused book, sort of a sampling or anecdotes on the central theme. It spends a lot of time on the personalities and situations of the specific teachers, students, and researchers in the stories rather than driving home the central idea.

This is not really a parenting how-to book, and it tends to focus on older children, about age 10 or above. It is also not really a scientific book. It tends to feel more like journalism, maybe a very long article from a magazine.

I loved the honest look at where the children that our society looks down upon come from. I loved that Mr. Tough explored what really goes on in our country and how we can fix it. As a child that grew up like most of the children in Paul Tough's book, it was a real wake up call as to how I can be a better mother to my children, so they are ahead of the game and that they have the skills necessary not only to survive, but thrive throughout their whole lives. It's a great book and one that I think everyone should read at least once.

although not a long book, it's long for what is in here, which is a rehash of many of the same experiemnts that are in lots of other similar books. In addition, there is little helpful here....yes, children who can postpone eating a marshmellow do better than those who can't, and this may be even more important predictor than intelligence, but as a father of several young kids, the key question remains....WHY do some kids have better self control and is this inherited or a changeable/teachable trait. No answers there. And the author even contradicts himself at the end, stating that "urturing" is important at an early age but that later one needs to balance being demanding vs. nurturing. Well, yeah, that's pretty much why parenting is so hard in a nutshell.

I was expecting more of a point by point guide to raising kids to have "grit" rather than an exhaustive explanation of the psychology behind the topic. I experienced it as very technical reading that would perhaps appeal more to people in the field of education or psychology rather than parents. It referred time and again to many of the people one always reads about when reading about the field of positive psychology. While interesting, the stories used as examples were related dryly and were too long.There was a lot of information and clearly a lot of research done here, but it didn't translate well and became laborious to push through. The chapters and sections were randomly defined and erratic in their sequencing which was disorienting in the context of an audiobook.

Has How Children Succeed turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but I will hesitate when thinking about picking up another book by this author.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator was sub-par. His affectations of the "voices" and accents of the people from the case studies were presumptive and cloying. He put on what he interpreted as the voice of people in certain socio-economic circumstances while I bet he never met any of the people referred to in the book in order to actually know how they sounded...how does he know they spoke like that? The affectations were patronizing, and I imagine will offend some. At the very least they detract from the subject matter.

Any additional comments?

Was hoping for something more energetic and engaging, after hearing the TED talk by Ms. Duckworth, which was referenced many times in this book. Disappointed.

How Children Succeed by Paul Tough will force you to think about pressure we put on teachers to educate in the classroom when a host of determinate factors outside of the classroom may be more apt to tell whether a child "succeeds."

In what I can only describe as a Gladwellian analysis of characteristics of successful children, Tough goes far beyond the classroom and uncovers the necessity of harder to measure factors such as "Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character."

This book presents a necessary perspective to understand how we must change our approach from simply the education of a child, to a more holistic approach of "child development" that creates intuitive pathways to develop things like care, character, drive, and determination even in the midst of often bleak economic and social circumstances.

What did you like best about How Children Succeed? What did you like least?

I did not care for this book. The author has clearly done quite an extensive amount of research into the topic, but it is written in such a style that it did not keep my attention at all, despite a good performance by the narrator.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I honestly could not finish this book......and that in itself is saying something because it is very rare that I don't finish a book.

Do you think How Children Succeed needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Please no!

Any additional comments?

I wish I had not spent my money on this book, but even worse, I wish I had not invested the time to listen to it.

Paul Tough pulls together interesting research that highlights the power of non-cognitive abilities to improve educational outcomes. In addition to persuasive scientific evidence of how learnable character traits can boost achievement, Tough also supports the science with real life stories of children that have overcome enormous hurdles.

This is a simply told story that will keep your attention. It isn't pretentious in any way and the writing is accessible even when describing complex science.

If there is any flaw with this book it is that the conclusion feels flimsy. Tough spins a wonderful tale of how children beat the odds, but his idea that these findings somehow invalidate the school reform movement's focus on teacher quality and school-based interventions is off course. Focusing on poverty interventions outside of schools while also focusing on classrooms are not exclusive. It almost seems that Tough is unaware that he was making a welfare reform argument rather than school reform. And that is where his insights fall down. Even has he goes to great lengths to defend schools, he has very little grace with the human services sector.

What aspect of Dan John Miller’s performance would you have changed?

The narration is great except for one major flaw. When a seemingly white sounding man adopts the accents of what is supposed to be inner-city black females - trouble ensues. At first it was funny. Then it was not.

I loved this book and recommended it to my co-workers. It was very inspiring and as an educator it gave me hope. It was current, relevant and full of ideas on how we can help are challanging disadvantgaged students with our everyday practices. It was easy to listen too and the stories of real people were engaging. I found it hard to stop listening and get out of the car and go into work.